ORIENTing, two contemporary exhibitions on Ian Fairweather in Perth, Australia

Perth: Two new exhibitions ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections curated by
Ted Snell (Director, Cultural Precinct, UWA) and Sally Quin (Curator, UWA) and ORIENTing: With Or Without You curated by Aaron Seeto (Director, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney) and
Toby Chapman (Assistant Curator, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney) opened in early May 2013 at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia. With Or Without You features a number of prominent Australian artistsincluding Newell Harry, Tom Nicholson, Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Roy Wiggan, Tintin Wulia, and John Young.

According to the official media release:

ORIENTing is an exhibition in two parts, each exploring a different aspect of artistic engagement with Asia. ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections gathers together for the first time a series of significant early works by Fairweather in Western Australian collections, focusing on the influence of Asian art and culture on the artist’s practice. A major artist of the twentieth century, Fairweather was Scottish born, though spent periods of his life in China, Bali, the Philippines, India and Australia. He was particularly fascinated by Chinese culture and this is reflected in the subject matter and style of his works, which indicate a strong fascination with calligraphy. The exhibition focuses on Fairweather’s early paintings from the 1930s and 1940s, which recall his experiences of travel.

ORIENTing: With or Without You is an exhibition of contemporary art by Australian artists which touches on similar themes, considering the significance of place, identity and landscape in a variety of art forms. Artists include Newell Harry, Tom Nicholson, Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Roy Wiggan, Tintin Wulia, and John Young. While some artists respond directly to Ian Fairweather’s paintings, others reflect on the broader themes of cross-cultural engagement and interaction.

The exhibitions enable us to look at the past to provide an understanding of the present, and also to act as a lens onto the future by exploring our cultural relationship to our geographic region over a broad time span.

Additionally, in June 2013 the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery will launch a companion book including full-colour plates of all the works together with essays written by leading scholars and authors.

The exhibition is on from 4 May – 13 July 2013.

ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian CollectionsORIENTing: With Or Without You
4 May – 13 July 2013